Malfunctioning engine probably caused Il-86 to fall

A malfunction in one of the Il-86's engines probably caused the airliner to fall. This information was disclosed on Monday by a source in the commission investigating the tragedy.

According to it, the nature of the malfunction is currently being determined. By all appearances, the main cause of the tragedy was that an engine shut down when the aircraft was ascending.

In fact, the aircraft was empty and consequently, had a substantial thrust reserve. That was why the engine's torque exceeded the safe level. According to the source, this version also explains the nature of the aircraft's descend.

Another factor, which could have led to the air crash, was a mistake by the pilot who performed a wrong manoeuvre with one engine shut down. The truth is that it is the first crashed Il-86 and hence, pilots simply do not have any practical experience of how to handle this type of aircraft in an emergency. The Il-86 has previously performed emergency landings but has never crashed since 1980 when it first appeared in airlines.

The source emphasised that experts would get the full picture of the accident only when the airliner's black boxes /flight recorders/ had been deciphered.

On July 28th, an Il-86 airliner fell down from a 200-metre altitude in the Khimki district /the Moscow region/ 500-700 metres away from a runway of Sheremetyevo airport. When crashed into the ground, the aircraft started burning.

The airliner belonging to the Pulkovskiye airlines completed a flight from Sochi and started a homeward flight to St. Petersburg. Fourteen out of the sixteen people on-board the aircraft died. Two flight assistants were rushed to hospital.

An interdepartmental commission headed by Alexander Neradko, the Russian First Deputy Transport Minister and the Chairman of the Russian State Civil Aviation Service, is currently investigating the accident.